Easter Crafts For Kids

April 25, 2012

Easter Crafts For Kids

Decorating for Easter is always fun with eggs. There are many different ways to decorate both hard-boiled and plastic eggs and/or to use them in a variety of craft projects. If you want to decorate hard-boiled eggs, you need to cook them first. To get easy-to-peel hard-boiled eggs use eggs that are about five days old from the time of purchase (if the eggs were fresh when you bought them). If they weren’t fresh when you purchased them merely wait several days before cooking them. If you need to purchase fresh eggs and cook them immediately but you still want them to peel easily, steaming the eggs is a good option. In order to hard-boil eggs, it takes approximately 12 minutes. Place the eggs in a saucepan in a single layer. Next add enough cold water to cover the eggs plus another one to two inches above them. Adding one-half of a teaspoon of salt to the water can make the eggs easier to peel and also assist in the prevention of cracking. Turn on the heat and bring the water to a boil. As soon as the water begins to boil remove the pan from the heat. Next reduce the heat to low and put the pan back on the burner. Allow the eggs to simmer for one minute and then remove the pan from the heat and cover. Allow the eggs to rest in the water in the covered pan for approximately 12 minutes (for medium size eggs), 15 minutes (for large eggs), or 18 minutes (for extra-large eggs). Use a slotted spoon to remove the eggs and place them in a bowl filled with ice water. You can also strain the water from the pan, refill it with cold water and continue to repeat this process until the eggs are cool. When the eggs are completely cool you can strain the water for the last time and store them in your refrigerator in a covered container.

Crayon Eggs

Using crayons is an easy and economical way to decorate Easter eggs with spectacular results. Most families have many crayons in their home at all times. Crayons can be used on hot or cold eggs which have been hard-boiled. If you choose warm eggs that have just been boiled the heat literally melts the wax from the crayons onto the egg. If you select cooled eggs, merely color any design you desire with crayons on the egg and then dip it in a mixture that will brighten the crayon and add overall color.

For the cooled egg crayon method you will need hard-boiled eggs, crayons and neon food coloring with white vinegar added. The food coloring mix is optional. You can choose to only color the eggs with the crayons.

Hard-boil eggs, fully cool and dry them.

Eggs can be slippery so place a kitchen towel that is double folded on the table for the work space.

Draw designs on the eggs with crayons while gently holding the egg so you don’t crack the shell.

Mix one tablespoon of white vinegar into a mug that is three-quarters full of water and add numerous drops of neon or any type of food coloring.

Place the egg into the dye mixture and allow it to sit for approximately one minute. You can leave it in the mix longer for a deeper color.

Being an actual artist is not necessary to create these works of art. In order to decoupage designs onto your egg you must first blow out a raw egg. This action leaves the egg shell fully intact with nothing inside the egg. It requires a gentle touch so you don’t crack the shell. The key to this type of Easter egg design is the pictures or illustrations you are able to find to put on your egg. The web is filled with free images that you can print out if you have a computer. Magazine pictures and scrapbooking supplies will both provide you with material for your designs. You can create an entire scene on your egg if you desire. For example consider little, cute cartoon bunnies carrying or searching for Easter baskets in the grass. Decoupage design requires white glue or Mod Podge, a stiff paintbrush, cutout images and blown eggs which have not been dyed.

Blowing out a raw egg instructions: Wipe the entire outside of the egg with vinegar and use a paper towel to pat it dry. Make holes in the top and bottom of the egg with a large needle (approximately one-quarter of an inch in diameter) and be sure to puncture the yolk. Blow the egg over a bowl. Gently blow into the hole in the narrow end of the egg until it completely empties into the bowl. Rinse both the inside and outside of the egg and let it dry.

Determine the area size on the egg required for your image and use the paintbrush to put on a light layer of glue (or Mod Podge) that is slightly bigger than the determined image area.

Lay your image on the egg and apply enough glue over the top of the image so it will lay flat against the egg.

Repeat the process with all the images you wish to apply and allow the egg to dry for approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

Easter Egg Decorating: Disney’s Family Fun website provides pictures and instructions for a variety of ways to decorate Easter eggs and/or utilize them in crafts such as decoupage designs, melted crayon eggs, cool crayon colors and even an Easter egg wreath.

Decoupage Easter Eggs: The Ladies Home Journal website offers information on decoupaging Easter eggs and how to empty the eggshells.

Dip and Dye Eggs

Utilizing something to cover parts of the egg and then dipping the egg in dye will leave a white imprint of whatever was covering the egg. If you put masking tape on a hard-boiled egg and then dye the egg, the places that were covered with the tape will appear white. You can then choose to dip the egg again in a lighter color without covering any areas to give a different color to the areas that had been covered. You can also use stickers, rubber bands or lace to add unique designs to your egg. For the masking tape method you will need the masking tape, hard-boiled eggs, a slotted spoon, egg dye of any type, a soft cloth and cooking oil.

Place masking tape on the cool, plain, dry egg in whatever pattern you desire.

Submerge the egg in dye until it reaches the color you are seeking.

Remove the egg with a slotted spoon and allow it to dry.

When the egg is completely dry, remove all the masking tape. You can choose to dip the egg again in a lighter color if you wish to add color to the areas that were previously covered. If you dip the egg again you must allow the egg to dry thoroughly after dipping.

Use a soft cloth and cooking oil to polish the egg.

Make Some Easter Eggs: The website offers great ideas for decorating Easter eggs such as dip and dye, marbling, waxing or sponge painting the eggs.

Lace Eggs: Martha Stewart offers a video on her website that explains and demonstrates how to use lace on hard-boiled eggs to design them.

Stone Easter Eggs

Stone Easter eggs really do look like stones when you are done. Simply by covering a hard-boiled egg with nylon or cheese cloth and then dying it, the material’s pattern becomes imprinted on the egg. All you need are hard-boiled eggs, a dye mixture of food coloring and vinegar or store-bought dye, nylons or cheese cloth and twist ties or string.

Tightly cover the hard-boiled eggs with the nylons or cheese cloth and secure them with a twist tie or string.

Place the covered eggs in the dye until the desired color is reached.

Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and allow them to completely dry.

Remove the nylon or cloth and your egg will resemble a stone.

Dying Easter Eggs: The website provides pictures with instructions on how to achieve different looks for your Easter egg such as stone, rubber band and splatter paint designs.

Stenciled Easter Eggs

Stencils are a simple and foolproof way to expertly design your Easter eggs. Even extra-large eggs do not provide you with big work areas so your stencils must be fairly small to use them on the eggs. All you need to do is locate stencil designs that you like that are small enough for your egg, place the stencil on the egg and sponge or brush paint the image onto the egg. You can paint professional-looking designs even if you are not extremely artistic. The necessary materials for stenciling Easter eggs include: hard-boiled eggs, tape, acrylic craft paints or tempera paints (any colors you desire), a paintbrush or household sponge and a paper plate or paper cups to put the paint on or in. A bowl of water is also needed for wetting the sponge or paintbrush along with paper towels for removing excess paint.

Tape the stencil to the cool, dry hard-boiled egg.

If you are using a sponge, you can cut it into pieces (one for each color you have).

Soak the sponge in the bowl of water and squeeze out the excess water.

Next place the damp sponge into the desired color of paint.

Dab the sponge on a paper towel to remove excess paint.

Blot the paint with your sponge into the stencil design until you achieve the desired look and set the egg down to dry. Do one side of the egg at a time and make sure the first side is completely dry before turning it over.

If you are using a paintbrush merely dip the brush in the selected paint color, paint the inside of the stencil and let it dry.

A simple yet brilliant idea is to use personal photographs from your computer to decorate your Easter eggs. You only need to print a one inch picture and apply it to your egg. The egg becomes a very special and beloved Easter egg. You can even use some of the previously mentioned methods of egg decorating along with the picture such as the stone method or the dip and dye method. The photograph is the centerpiece of your egg but you can be creative with your backgrounds and border. For this type of egg decorating you need hard-boiled eggs, white water-slide inkjet paper for your computer printer, personal photographs downloaded onto your computer, Krylon Krystal Clear acrylic spray, scissors, white glue and egg dye or spray paint to color the eggs. Any accessories such as ribbon for the picture border or rubber bands to use for the dying process are up to you. Let your creative juices flow!

Download special photographs to your home computer and print them onto the white water-slide inkjet paper. Remember the picture size should be approximately one inch.

Spray the photograph with three coats of the Krylon Krystal Clear acrylic spray to set the picture.

Trim the picture with the scissors.

Color the hard-boiled egg using whatever method you want to. You can spray paint the egg or dip it in dye.

Allow the egg to dry completely before applying the picture with white glue.

Photo Mosaic Eggs: The website adds a twist to the photo egg by decorating the remainder of the egg with scraps of patterned paper.

Other Easter Craft Ideas

Easter is joyous time of year filled with wonderful craft project ideas. Making Easter bonnets, dying eggs and creating bunnies are merely a few fun craft ideas that can each be done in many different ways. The following links will provide you with fun craft ideas that are perfect for Easter.